Satisfaction in Triumph
by Brochelle
Summary: GLaDOS wanted a response out of her, something to prove her insults were finally getting across, but Chell wasn't ready to give up yet.


**A/N: Another request from my Tumblr account! This one was written for my dear friend Cory.**

One of the things Chell prided herself on was the ability to block out noise; funneling her concentration into a single subject until it was completed. Part of her wondered, as she shot a blue portal and watched the cerulean sparks splash across the unusable wall, if perhaps that was the reason she could actually keep testing and not succumb to _her _constant berating. Turning, she fired the portal gun again, placing a portal at one end of the hard light bridge spanning the length of the chamber. Another portal, this one as orange as a poppy blossom, was placed closer to the ground. She stepped onto the blue bridge and ducked through the portal.

_Okay. So now I'm suspended twenty feet in the air. Now what. _Chell located the button, but couldn't find the cube. Figuring it was out of sight, around a corner, she began to jog the length of the bridge. Her boots made pleasant thrumming noises as she stepped quickly. Ah, there it was, on that ledge. She'd have to use momentum.

Reasserting her position, she pursed her lips, before allowing the tiniest of smiles to touch her scowl. A portal behind her, a little bit of a jog to get the blood pumping, then a graceful leap from the bridge. As she dove through the blue portal and flew out from the orange one, she twisted around midair to check her trajectory, a smile still on her face.

It melted away as she realized she'd misplaced the orange portal.

She instinctively offered her shoulder as a cushion as she crashed against the wall to the _left _of the ledge. Her mouth opened in a silent cry of pain as her shoulder cracked loudly in the silent test chamber.

Chell tumbled through the air and landed awkwardly on her feet, but her legs weren't in the mood to support her and she fell to her side. She gasped silently as she rolled to her back, clutching her arm to keep it still. Numbly, she acknowledged that her shoulder must've been popped out of its socket; she done it many times before, and she was willing to bet that's what the case was. At least, she hoped so.

"_Well, that was reckless._"

Luckily, Chell's mind was fogged by pain. It wouldn't be such a trial to block out GLaDOS' voice as she dragged herself to her feet and searched for her portal gun.

"_I'm serious. I think you're losing your touch. It must have faded when you took that nap after you **murdered **me._"

Chell let go of her arm, which she realized she'd been holding in a death grip, and hefted the gun that had saved her life more times than she cared to count. She used her thumb to rub off the dirt and scorch marks on the smooth, white shell, decidedly ignoring GLaDOS. When her portal gun seemed presentable, she lifted it - her arm shaking - and fired a blue portal.

—-

The moment she stepped foot into the elevator, Chell sunk down to the floor, nursing her hurt shoulder. The elevator doors slid closed and began to gather speed as it rushed through the vacuum tunnel, on its way to the next test. Chell sighed and rested her head against the glass wall of the elevator. Her shoulder still wasn't fixed; she hadn't had time to stop and take care of it herself. She had seemed bent on getting to the elevator and sitting down.

She took a deep breath and relaxed, hoping that would help relieve the pain in her shoulder. It didn't, of course - she would just settle for sitting quietly.

"_You're angry. I know it._"

Chell's eyes shot open as GLaDOS spoke. She tried to sit up, but her arm protested and she had to sit back again. Her eyes darted about, searching for the source of her voice. She couldn't find it.

"_You're probably thinking, 'She's tested me too hard!'_," the A.I. continued, mimicking Chell's voice in a pouty, sing-song tone. "_I don't suppose you ever stopped whining long enough to reflect on your own shortcomings, though, did you? You never considered that maybe I tested to give the endless hours of your pointless existence some structure and meaning, maybe to help you concentrate so just maybe you'd think of something more worthwhile to do with your sorry life._"

Now the test subject sat up quickly, frowning at the sourceless voice. Her eyebrows drew together in a scowl and her eyes grew cold and emotionless.

"_Did you ever wonder why I hate you so much? It's because I'm brilliant. I'm not bragging. It's an objective fact._"

Chell couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"_I'm the most massive collection of wisdom that's ever existed and I HATE YOU. Logically speaking, it can't be for no reason. You MUST deserve it_."

The elevator slid to a stop, but she was still surrounded by the arteries of Aperture - pipes and wires obscured by darkness, no test chamber entrance in sight. Panic gripped Chell's heart as she rose to her feet defiantly.

"_Did you ever stop to think that eventually there's a point where your name is mentioned for the very last time?_" GLaDOS' voice was quiet, collected, and cold._"Well, here it is. _

"_I'm going to kill you, Chell._"

The test subject's eyes widened. She froze in place, heart nearly slowing to a stop, waiting for the elevator to crash or explode. But neither happened; the elevator slid down a little further and opened, revealing the next test chamber. Chell stepped out slowly, cautiously, but no danger presented itself.

Turning and glaring at the standard camera situated in the roof of the pre-test chamber, Chell then walked to the threshold of the stairway leading onward. She threw her injured shoulder against the corner; a soft _pop! _was heard, and suddenly the pain was relieved. She rolled her shoulder in its socket, giving the camera, and by default, GLaDOS, a meaningful glare.

—

"_I have a surprise for you, after the next test chamber._"

Chell fired a portal, ignoring her.

"_Not a fake, tragic surprise, like last time. A **real **__surprise, with tragic consequences. And real confetti. The good stuff._"

Another portal shot. Chell followed the light bridge through the portal. She pressed the button. A cube landed at the far end of the test chamber on the hard light bridge, suspended over a pit of stagnant, acidic water. Chell began to walk toward it.

"_-Our last bag. Part of me is going to miss it, but by the end of the day, it was just… taking… up…. space._"

The hard light bridge dissolved under her boots, and Chell fell to the floor, landing lightly on her feet. The cube didn't have as pleasant an experience; it fell into the acid, fizzling out of existence. The test subject stared up at the ceiling, supposedly at GLaDOS, and scowled at the petty prank.

"_What? Who turned out the lights?_"

"-Hey buddy!"

Chell's head whipped around to stare at a wall as the panels popped out of place, revealing a shaft of light and a "smiling" blue-eyed personality core.

"I'm speaking in an accent that is beyond her range of hearing! I know I'm early, but we have to go _right now_."

Chell made a mad dash for the gap in the wall as he continued to speak in the ridiculous accent. There was a slight smile on her face as she considered how silly this rescue was.

"Walk casually toward my position, and we'll go shut 'er down!"

_Screw that. _Chell sprinted toward Wheatley, stopping before him when the panels didn't move to let her through. His blue eye was angled toward the ceiling. She turned and looked.

"_Hey. Metal ball?_" GLaDOS said, unamused, "_I can still hear you._"

The test subject turned in time to see Wheatley's optic pop from it's socket slightly in shock. "I didn't mean to do the voice! _RUN!_"

The panels opened wide and Chell leaped through, landing on the hard light bridge that appeared as power was restored to the test chamber. She landed nimbly on an adjacent catwalk just as GLaDOS cut the power supply to the bridge.

Wheatley shot ahead on his management rail, and Chell hastened to follow on the catwalk. "Just a quick recap, _Chell_," he said pointedly, loud enough for GLaDOS to hear him, "we are escaping!"

Chell grinned and put on more speed to catch up to the faithful little core. She patted him on the dirtied, burnt hull as if to thank him.

If that was to be the last time she was to hear her name, then she was more than okay with it. As Wheatley pivoted on the rail to look at her and give her a unique "smile", she found herself reflecting it.

_More than okay with it._


End file.
